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Merissa (11938 KP) rated The Verderer (Pitch & Sickle #2) in Books
Sep 26, 2022
THE VERDERER is the second book in Pitch & Sickle series and follows on from book one, which you will absolutely have to read to understand what's going on here.
As with the first book, this has a slow and meandering pace, giving the reader time to learn about both Silas and Pitch, as they themselves learn about each other and just what is expected from them.
There are still big parts of the story that aren't yet explained, leaving me definitely wanting more. Silas is still standing strong with his loyalty. He still has a lot to learn and is still naïve about the new world he inhabits. Pitch is still cantankerous and full of innuendoes. I really wish he would dial it back a bit!
Towards the end of the book, there is a lot of action that has been building throughout. And when I say action, I mean fight scenes. There is still nothing between Pitch and Silas apart from a near-kiss.
A great follow-up to book one and I can't wait for book 3! Definitely recommended by me.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
As with the first book, this has a slow and meandering pace, giving the reader time to learn about both Silas and Pitch, as they themselves learn about each other and just what is expected from them.
There are still big parts of the story that aren't yet explained, leaving me definitely wanting more. Silas is still standing strong with his loyalty. He still has a lot to learn and is still naïve about the new world he inhabits. Pitch is still cantankerous and full of innuendoes. I really wish he would dial it back a bit!
Towards the end of the book, there is a lot of action that has been building throughout. And when I say action, I mean fight scenes. There is still nothing between Pitch and Silas apart from a near-kiss.
A great follow-up to book one and I can't wait for book 3! Definitely recommended by me.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
How I wish I could have known Sunny when I was in my thirties - or even now, if I’m honest! I read this book on The Pigeonhole, and I looked forward to opening each stave every day. It was one of those books that I just didn’t want to end. I mean, what happens after the last page?
Sunny feels the weight of expectation on her shoulders. She knows that her parents want her to get married, but she only seems to meet men who are wrong for her. I think a lot of this is because of her distinct lack of self-confidence and her poor body image. She calls herself fat constantly, she doesn’t seem to like herself very much, and puts herself across as the life and soul of every party to her friends, whilst hating the way that they use her. Actually, I don’t think that a lot of her friends are deserving of her friendship at all.
This book is a journey to self-acceptance for Sunny, and I was very happy to be on that journey with her. It’s funny and sad in equal measure. You can definitely tell that a comedian wrote this. Some of the observations were really funny, and the timing was perfect.
It’s a touching, funny novel, and one I’d recommend without hesitation.
Sunny feels the weight of expectation on her shoulders. She knows that her parents want her to get married, but she only seems to meet men who are wrong for her. I think a lot of this is because of her distinct lack of self-confidence and her poor body image. She calls herself fat constantly, she doesn’t seem to like herself very much, and puts herself across as the life and soul of every party to her friends, whilst hating the way that they use her. Actually, I don’t think that a lot of her friends are deserving of her friendship at all.
This book is a journey to self-acceptance for Sunny, and I was very happy to be on that journey with her. It’s funny and sad in equal measure. You can definitely tell that a comedian wrote this. Some of the observations were really funny, and the timing was perfect.
It’s a touching, funny novel, and one I’d recommend without hesitation.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Slumber Party Massacre (2021) in Movies
Mar 22, 2022
This update of the 80s cult favourite hits all the right notes for the first two thirds of its runtime. There's some decent gore, some great shots, and it feels different enough from the original to have its own identity. Most importantly, the core group of characters are likable as hell. The movie takes the time to establish that we are following the story of a group of strong, determined women who ain't taking any shit. The feminist stance is far less subtle than the original, but it absolutely works. The scene wherein the group of men are the subjects of a topless pillow fight is ridiculous and hilarious, and moments like this, combined with the capable main protagonists ensure that it's mostly a blast.
Unfortunately, a lot of this falls apart in the final third. The film makes a shift into full blown, serious slasher territory, and flat out abandons a lot of what made the first hour so entertaining. The smart characters start making dumb decisions, and the narrative plays out in a way that leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth. It ultimately leads to an underwhelming ending, which is a shame considering how genuinely decent it started out.
However, Slumber Party Massacre is a pretty good time overall, and is a slasher that can stand proudly side by side with the original.
Unfortunately, a lot of this falls apart in the final third. The film makes a shift into full blown, serious slasher territory, and flat out abandons a lot of what made the first hour so entertaining. The smart characters start making dumb decisions, and the narrative plays out in a way that leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth. It ultimately leads to an underwhelming ending, which is a shame considering how genuinely decent it started out.
However, Slumber Party Massacre is a pretty good time overall, and is a slasher that can stand proudly side by side with the original.
ClareR (5667 KP) rated The Atlas Six in Books
Aug 15, 2022
I liked The Atlas Six. I listened to it on BorrowBox audiobook through my library, and I think that helped a lot - I liked the narrators voice!
The competition between the initiates is brutal - there’s an assumption that only one would survive by the end, and to them this is completely reasonable. It doesn’t put them off at all. This perfectly illustrates the kind of people they are I felt. Pretty ruthless.
There was an awful lot of dialogue that wasn’t really balanced with action. This is a fantasy book, they have magical gifts, and there just wasn’t enough magical action for me, and what there was I didn’t think showed the potential of some characters. Maybe they will be explored more in the second book. I was left not quite understanding what some of their gifts entailed. Some were obvious, others not so much. This first book, in what I assume will be a trilogy, has more of a scene-setting feel about it.
Now their recruiter, Atlas Blakely, really did intrigue me. I wish there had been more about him - perhaps there will be in the next book.
I will read the next book when it comes out. Sometimes a trilogy can be a little slow to start, and there’s enough in this book to make me want to read the next one.
The competition between the initiates is brutal - there’s an assumption that only one would survive by the end, and to them this is completely reasonable. It doesn’t put them off at all. This perfectly illustrates the kind of people they are I felt. Pretty ruthless.
There was an awful lot of dialogue that wasn’t really balanced with action. This is a fantasy book, they have magical gifts, and there just wasn’t enough magical action for me, and what there was I didn’t think showed the potential of some characters. Maybe they will be explored more in the second book. I was left not quite understanding what some of their gifts entailed. Some were obvious, others not so much. This first book, in what I assume will be a trilogy, has more of a scene-setting feel about it.
Now their recruiter, Atlas Blakely, really did intrigue me. I wish there had been more about him - perhaps there will be in the next book.
I will read the next book when it comes out. Sometimes a trilogy can be a little slow to start, and there’s enough in this book to make me want to read the next one.
Debbiereadsbook (1166 KP) rated The Shutout in Books
Mar 24, 2022
It's all very NICE, is all. Nicely written, nicely delivered and nice.
Independent reviewer for Book Sirens, I was gifted my copy of this book.
I liked this book, I did but it one of those NICE books, that, while a good read, I'm not really left feeling very much of anything about it, you know?
There was a lot of book, I think, that wasn't really necessary and while 2 epilogues is nice, one would have been suffice. The whole thing could have been a really great book, with 100 less pages, I thought. I found myself skimming over a lot. I didn't miss anything, either!
But!
It's a lovely tale of a gay guy falling in love with his straight best friend. There's a nasty co-worker, some amazing friends, parental units who don't deserve the father title, and family members who really do take the closeness a bit far. Some amusing moments with Max' sister and Jack!
And then the fall out from Jack being outed to the entire world, and the closing ranks around him that he never expected.
It's all very NICE, is all. Nicely written, nicely delivered and nice.
Having said that, this appears to be the author's first book, and I would like to read more as they hone their craft.
3 good, solid nice stars
*same worded review will appear elsewhere
I liked this book, I did but it one of those NICE books, that, while a good read, I'm not really left feeling very much of anything about it, you know?
There was a lot of book, I think, that wasn't really necessary and while 2 epilogues is nice, one would have been suffice. The whole thing could have been a really great book, with 100 less pages, I thought. I found myself skimming over a lot. I didn't miss anything, either!
But!
It's a lovely tale of a gay guy falling in love with his straight best friend. There's a nasty co-worker, some amazing friends, parental units who don't deserve the father title, and family members who really do take the closeness a bit far. Some amusing moments with Max' sister and Jack!
And then the fall out from Jack being outed to the entire world, and the closing ranks around him that he never expected.
It's all very NICE, is all. Nicely written, nicely delivered and nice.
Having said that, this appears to be the author's first book, and I would like to read more as they hone their craft.
3 good, solid nice stars
*same worded review will appear elsewhere
Lee (2222 KP) rated Shazam! (2019) in Movies
Apr 8, 2019 (Updated Apr 8, 2019)
Shazam is the latest DC superhero to land himself a standalone movie and continues to highlight the fact that these self contained DC offerings really do seem to be a lot better than their rushed ensemble movie output. It also shows how much better they can be when straying from the traditional dark DC gloom and deciding to inject a bit more humour and fun into it all. Aquaman recently showed just how much of a box office success that formula can be, Wonder Woman before it to a certain extent, and although Shazam does certainly have some dark themes and moments, it’s ultimately a lot more fun than either of those.
Shazam does take it’s time in introducing our superhero though, not to mention our super-villain, and the result is a much more grounded and believable movie. We begin with young boy Thaddeus Sivana, traveling by car with his elder brother and father. It’s the first of a number of dark scenes involving the Sivana family, really helping us to get a better understanding and appreciation of the man he later becomes and the motivation that drives him. We then head to present day Philadelphia, where 15 year old Billy Batson is using whatever means possible, legal or otherwise, to try and locate the birth mother he became separated from as a young boy while at a crowded funfair. Since then, Billy has been in the foster care system, and now finds himself in the care of Victor and Rosa – former foster kids themselves, who now run a home for a small group of foster children. Billy is sharing a room with Freddy, a disabled boy with an interest in superheroes and the proud owner of some pretty cool superhero memorabilia, including a batarang from Batman and a genuine bullet, flattened from having bounced off the man of steel himself! The foster home is a pretty close knit group and Billy initially struggles to fit into this large new ready made family.
And then one day, while on the run after standing up to a couple of older kids who were bullying Freddy, Billy finds himself transported to a dark mysterious cave where he inherits the powers of aged wizard Shazam (Djimon Hounsoul). The wizard is the last Shazam, currently protecting the world from an invasion of the Seven Deadly Sins, but now so weak that he must transfer his powers to someone who is true of heart. Absorbing his power, Billy becomes a grown up superhero (Zachari Levy), but by saying the word Shazam he is able to alternate between his teen body and that of the mighty superhero whenever he wants.
Once he manages to convince Freddy that he is in fact Billy and not some crazy guy in a suit, they have a lot of fun trying to work out which powers Shazam actually has and how to best make use of them. If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ll know that this is where a lot of the fun lies within the movie and it’s definitely very entertaining. But Billy eventually begins having a little too much fun for Freddy’s liking, and when all he is doing is skipping school to go shoot off lightning bolts for a gathered crowd, Freddy becomes frustrated that he is wasting his gift. With great power comes great responsibility and all that. Meanwhile, young Thaddeus Sivana has now become Dr Sivana (Mark Strong), acquiring some pretty impressive powers of his own and forging his own dark path in a scene which really pushes the 12A age rating for the movie. All his life, Sivana has been seeking the power that Billy has now acquired, so when this larger than life hero shows up, goofing around and not really taking that power seriously, Dr Sivana goes after Shazam to try and take the power for himself.
From there, the rest of the movie is pretty much a cat and mouse chase between Sivana and Shazam across the city, up in the sky and down on the streets as they smash through shopping malls and buildings before culminating in a fairground showdown. It’s actually a lot more fun than it sounds, although the whole movie could probably benefit from having about 10-15 minutes cut from it. Also, the dark threat introduced so shockingly earlier on in the movie, suddenly doesn’t become so shocking or menacing towards the end. It’s indicative of the tone of the movie as a whole really, trying to remain rooted in the traditional DC gloom, but striving for family friendly box office success. These are all very minor negatives for me though – overall Shazam is a lot of fun and very lighthearted, with a lot to say about the importance of family. And the Boardman family had an absolute blast watching it!
Shazam does take it’s time in introducing our superhero though, not to mention our super-villain, and the result is a much more grounded and believable movie. We begin with young boy Thaddeus Sivana, traveling by car with his elder brother and father. It’s the first of a number of dark scenes involving the Sivana family, really helping us to get a better understanding and appreciation of the man he later becomes and the motivation that drives him. We then head to present day Philadelphia, where 15 year old Billy Batson is using whatever means possible, legal or otherwise, to try and locate the birth mother he became separated from as a young boy while at a crowded funfair. Since then, Billy has been in the foster care system, and now finds himself in the care of Victor and Rosa – former foster kids themselves, who now run a home for a small group of foster children. Billy is sharing a room with Freddy, a disabled boy with an interest in superheroes and the proud owner of some pretty cool superhero memorabilia, including a batarang from Batman and a genuine bullet, flattened from having bounced off the man of steel himself! The foster home is a pretty close knit group and Billy initially struggles to fit into this large new ready made family.
And then one day, while on the run after standing up to a couple of older kids who were bullying Freddy, Billy finds himself transported to a dark mysterious cave where he inherits the powers of aged wizard Shazam (Djimon Hounsoul). The wizard is the last Shazam, currently protecting the world from an invasion of the Seven Deadly Sins, but now so weak that he must transfer his powers to someone who is true of heart. Absorbing his power, Billy becomes a grown up superhero (Zachari Levy), but by saying the word Shazam he is able to alternate between his teen body and that of the mighty superhero whenever he wants.
Once he manages to convince Freddy that he is in fact Billy and not some crazy guy in a suit, they have a lot of fun trying to work out which powers Shazam actually has and how to best make use of them. If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ll know that this is where a lot of the fun lies within the movie and it’s definitely very entertaining. But Billy eventually begins having a little too much fun for Freddy’s liking, and when all he is doing is skipping school to go shoot off lightning bolts for a gathered crowd, Freddy becomes frustrated that he is wasting his gift. With great power comes great responsibility and all that. Meanwhile, young Thaddeus Sivana has now become Dr Sivana (Mark Strong), acquiring some pretty impressive powers of his own and forging his own dark path in a scene which really pushes the 12A age rating for the movie. All his life, Sivana has been seeking the power that Billy has now acquired, so when this larger than life hero shows up, goofing around and not really taking that power seriously, Dr Sivana goes after Shazam to try and take the power for himself.
From there, the rest of the movie is pretty much a cat and mouse chase between Sivana and Shazam across the city, up in the sky and down on the streets as they smash through shopping malls and buildings before culminating in a fairground showdown. It’s actually a lot more fun than it sounds, although the whole movie could probably benefit from having about 10-15 minutes cut from it. Also, the dark threat introduced so shockingly earlier on in the movie, suddenly doesn’t become so shocking or menacing towards the end. It’s indicative of the tone of the movie as a whole really, trying to remain rooted in the traditional DC gloom, but striving for family friendly box office success. These are all very minor negatives for me though – overall Shazam is a lot of fun and very lighthearted, with a lot to say about the importance of family. And the Boardman family had an absolute blast watching it!
Dean (6925 KP) rated Pumpkinhead (1988) in Movies
Oct 11, 2017
Cool creature feature
An ok creature slasher, made better due to being directed by Stan Winston and B-movie horror star Lance Henriksen. This feels like it's an even older film, surprised it was made in '88! The creature design, costume is pretty cool as you would expect in a Stan Winston film. It looks like it owes a lot to the Alien creature design. The creature is played by the same guy used for the first two Predator films, Kevin Peter Hall. This has spawned 3 more sequels since. The 4th stars Lance Henriksen again! Worth checking out for old skool horror fans!
Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Netflix in Apps
Nov 3, 2017
Vast range of documentaries (1 more)
Easy to use app
Use it everyday
The content on Netflix is not bad, it has a great range of TV series and documentaries, however they seem to be slightly behind Amazon Prime and quite a lot behind Now TV in terms of movies.
The app itself is great, it's easy to use and utilising Chromecast and Google Home means I can watch Netflix on TV with only my voice or a touch of the button on the app. It's well made, more so than watching Amazon Prime as it still does not have this functionality.
The app itself is great, it's easy to use and utilising Chromecast and Google Home means I can watch Netflix on TV with only my voice or a touch of the button on the app. It's well made, more so than watching Amazon Prime as it still does not have this functionality.
Tonya (52 KP) rated Suicide Squad (2016) in Movies
Dec 31, 2017
Harley Quinn (1 more)
Action
Plot (1 more)
Character Development
Entertaining but no character development
Good vs evil. Good wins. End of plot development. Dark tone like most Batman movies. While I don't think action movies need to develop characters to the same extent as dramas, there are so many unique characters in this movie that deserved more than just a two-minute intro as they each got rounded up in the beginning of the movie. I see a lot of potential with these characters and would probably see another movie with them in it, I was just disappointed that I didn't get to learn more about a few of them in this movie.
Mark Halpern (153 KP) rated Thor (2011) in Movies
Jan 2, 2018
MCU
Another one of the heroes introduced into the MCU who will be a part of the Avengers. Thor was cast perfectly and I find it cool that Noah Synderguard of the Ny Mets could fill in as double if really needed lol. The story answers a lot of questions espically about the Teseract that we learn of in the first Captain America movie. I love each person who was cast in this movie and they all played them to a T. S.H.I.E.L.D is better reprsented in this movie and we learn much ore about them and about another avenger who has very small part.